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Standing Stones
The Standing Stones are upright magical stones located throughout the province of Skyrim. Legend tells of the stones granting special powers to heroes of old, giving them the ability to rewrite their fate.Watcher of Stones Characteristics Standing at approximately 3 meters in height, the ancient menhir-shaped stones each display a different Tamrielic constellation carved into its body. A total of 13 stones are dotted across the land — one for each month of the year, and The Serpent, which has no month associated with it.The Firmament The stones only seem to respond to certain individuals, but it is unknown what the qualifier for this is.Watcher of Stones Usage Activating a stone will grant the Dragonborn special bonuses, including but not limited to: *Increased speed of specific skills gains by up to 20% *Grant a special once-a-day ability *Increased Health/Magicka/Stamina or their regeneration rates *Improved miscellaneous stats (armor, carry weight, resistances, etc.) The Apprentice and Atronach Stones, however, also confer penalties such as Magicka vulnerability and a decreased Magicka regeneration rate, respectively. The Dragonborn can only have one stone active at any one time, however, their active blessing can be changed at any time by activating another stone. If they have the Aetherial Crown equipped, they can have the blessings from two stones active at a time. Stones Usefulness *In order to maximize skill gains when crafting, it is recommended to visit the Warrior Stone prior to smithing, the Thief Stone prior to alchemy and the Mage Stone prior to enchanting, respectively. These three stones are encountered at the very beginning of the game, letting you specialize in one or switch between them depending on your next actions. *The Thief Stone also gives a boost to improving the speech skill for bartering with shopkeepers and persuading/intimidating people. The effect can also be combined with enchanted gear that fortifies speech. *One of the best bonuses, especially in the early game, is conferred by the Steed Stone. Especially appreciated by characters wearing heavy armor, this stone provides the bonuses of two perks, significantly improving your capacity to carry loot. When hitting character level 6, a visit to this stone should be considered. *In a dungeon environment where a player values skill gains over other combat advantages, The Lover Stone offers better value than any of the Warrior, Thief and Mage Stones. This is because the character may use skills from more of the primary skill groups, and the difference between +15% and +20% bonus does not compensate for the limited versatility. *While the Tower Stone can help opening most locks too difficult to pick at low lockpicking skill levels, it also slows down the improvement of that skill as no experience is gained by using the stone's special power. *The Lord Stone (25%) allows Bretons to reach the maximum cap of magic resistance at 85%, while wearing no armor. It requires their Racial ability (25%), Agent of Mara (15%), and magic resistance 2/3 (20%). *The Atronach Stone (50%) allows any race to have an 80% spell absorption, when combined with the Atronach perk (30%). **The Restoration school also allows one to counteract the -50% magicka regeneration of the stone through use of the Recovery perk. Gallery Apprentice.png|The Apprentice Atronach.png|The Atronach Lady.png|The Lady Lord.png|The Lord Lover.png|The Lover Mage2.png|The Mage Ritual.png|The Ritual Serpent.png|The Serpent Shadow.png|The Shadow Steed.png|The Steed Thief2.png|The Thief Tower.png|The Tower Warrior2.png|The Warrior Trivia *Despite Archery falling under the Warrior skill set, it is counted as a stealth skill and covered by the Thief Stone in this instance only. It is unknown if this is intentional or a bug, or an element for game balancing. *Reading An Explorer's Guide to Skyrim will add 4 of the 13 stones locations to the in-game map. *In some of Skyrim's early gameplay footage, the Standing Stones map marker was different. Instead of them having their own unique map marker, they had the marker for a landmark. Bugs * It may be possible to get the "Standing Stone" Achievement without actually going to all the stones. Simply go to the Thief, the Mage and the Warrior stones at the Guardian Stones 13 times. Players may actually "find" more than 13 standing stones. * The standing stone from which a blessing is accepted appears to be invisible. Probably related to low graphics settings. (Keep the Object Fade setting on at least "1.") *Sometimes the achievement "Blessed" may not unlock the first time a blessing is received. Achievements |trophy = }} |trophy = }} Appearances * de:Findlinge (Skyrim) es:Menhires fr:Pierres Gardiennes pl:Kamienie Przeznaczenia (Skyrim) ru:Камни судьбы (Skyrim) Category:Skyrim: Locations Category:Skyrim: Standing Stones Category:Skyrim: Interactive Items